Fallen Soldiers: The Beginning
by Lewtam
Summary: Dalia is no normal girl. She's a girl that loves to prank, is best friends with boys and has a strange obsession with Magical Creatures... oh and she's a witch. Follow Dalia as she grows up with the Marauders, falls in love and gives everything for the people she loves. This girl, is definitely no ordinary girl!
1. Trailer

_**Tell me what you think so that I can start writing the story properly! **_

* * *

**A new** **year…**

**With friends **

"_Dalia! It's good to see you again, how was your summer?" _

"_Great, Lily! How's James?"_

"_Don't even start!"_

**With family **

"_Listen to your heart honey, you can do anything"_

"_Thanks, mum. I love you."_

"_I love you to honey"_

**At School**

"To new students, Welcome! To others, Welcome back to Hogwarts!"

**A normal life, Until…**

"_Who is he? Why is he doing this?"_

"_He's called himself Voldemort. He's after blood purity and is killing muggleborns in order to get it"_

"_If its a war he wants, then its a war he gets!"_

**Now they must fight for what they believe in…**

"_It's a secret society named The Order of the Phoenix. Its founded by Dumbledore, now are you in?"_

"_I'm in"_

"_Me too"_

**Or be left behind…**

"You didn't. Tell me you didn't! Please… No! Tell me you didn't do it!"

"What?"

"Please! Tell me you didn't!"

"I'm sorry, I had too"

"Oh, god! How could you do this? You didn't! No! You didn't... oh god!"

"I did it for us! So we could be safe! It's for us!"

"I love you, how could you do it! Oh god, you didn't! Please, Please!"

"Just listen, stop."

"Why did you do this to me?"

"Stop, Stop… Listen."

"Oh god, how could you do this"

"STOP! I DID IT FOR US! OUR FAMILY, SO WE CAN BE SAFE! I DID IT FOR YOU! FOR OUR FUTURE, FOR OUR CHILDREN!"

"No, I can't… I can't! Oh god, please no"

**It is only the beginning. **

_**The Beginning – Coming to Fan fiction's near you!**_


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome Home

_**Hey! Now this is the first Chapter and might be the only chapter until I start writing the next *blush*. I have a habit of leaving a story for a long time but hopefully this won't be the case for this story! Any ways, as you can guess, this chapter is pretty long *blush* and this is because i thought you might like to get a bit into the story and have a taste for the characters. So I'm going to stop blabbing on so that you can read the chapter! :D**_

_***Disclaimer* Please note that I will NOT put a disclaimer on to EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER as it truly is annoying and I just want to get on with the story. So this is the first and most likely only disclaimer I will put on so here it is...**_

_**I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters used in this story apart from the names you do not recognise! Thanks!**_

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_**Chapter One: Welcome Home!**_

As the end of summer dawned, a mixture of excitement and sadness hung in the air as two figures stared out of a small window in the kitchen. Spotting a small moving form floating in the air, Dalia Edmonds, a slender girl with lightly tanned skin that complemented her thick, dark brown, wavy locks that fell to the middle of her back and large doe-like hazel eyes surrounded in thick lashes, shouted out to her mother.

"Hey mum! Owl post is coming, we can go to Diagon Alley now" Dalia said as a petite woman with long wavy brown hair streaked with grey came rushing into the kitchen with her arms full of different books and scrolls of parchment. Mrs. Edmonds is a busy and hard working woman that had spent her summer caring for her only daughter and trying to research different illnesses and their melodies for her work at St. Mungos, which is in a way just like what those muggles call a… hopital? No, I think it was a hospital. Except that instead of mutilating bodies, we have healers that fix the patients.

"Okay Dalia, I'll take you as soon as I have found my other book but we still have to wait for Lily to turn up." Mrs. Edmonds told her daughter as she searched the room before going through another door that led to her study.

A knock on the door interrupted what Dalia was about to say and caused her to rush out of the room, forgetting about the owl that was now sitting at her kitchen window waiting to be relieved of its duty of carrying an important letter.

"You're here! Finally!" cheered Dalia as she opened the door and quickly swept her best friend into a bear hug.

Expecting this, Lily hugged her best friend back whilst saying, "Sorry... Petunia threw a fit and it took a while to get my parents away from her in order for them to drive me here"

"It's okay. Oh! My Hogwarts letter just came! Come in and we can go to Diagon Alley already. Just put your stuff there and the house elves will take it to my room and put it on your bed" Dalia said in a rush as she pulled Lily into the house and practically threw her belongings in to a corner.

"I still can't believe you have house elves" Lily sighed as she let herself be dragged into what she knew was the kitchen.

"Blah, blah, blah. Lily Evans, they like to work! Stop being such a moaning myrtle and hurry up!" Dalia joked as she finally let go of Lily's hand and snatched her letter from the awaiting owl.

The owl gave an indignant hoot before quickly flying away from her.

"I've already got mine; I still can't believe you actually took divination. You could have taken Arithmancy with me and you would actually learn something!" Lily huffed and shook her head as he friend opened her letter.

"Again… blah, blah, blah! Yikes, Lily cut it with the Blah's already!" Dalia joked, "Hmm, I'm going to need some new dragon hide gloves seeing as mine are worn out and I'm taking both Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures this year" Dalia muttered to herself as she went down her list of things she would need for her Sixth year at Hogwarts.

"Mine are still okay but I could use some new robes as the Snap Dragon Pomona used last year kept latching itself to me" Lily said as she thought back to her past Herbology lessons.

"Since when did you start calling Professor Sprout 'Pomona'?" giggled Dalia

"Since she helped me decide what electives to take this year" Lily answered without noticing the mischievous glint in her friend's eye.

"Teachers Pet!" Coughed Dalia with a smirk on her face

"What! I am not a teacher's pet!" huffed Lily, crossing her arms over her busty chest.

"Are too!" Dalia smirked.

"Are not!"

"Are –"

"Girls, once you finished arguing, I'm ready to go now" Mrs. Edmonds interrupted as she stood beside a fireplace with a pot of green powder in her delicate hands.

"Right, Sorry Mrs. Edmonds!" Lily answered bashfully

"It's Rose, dear. No need for the Mrs!" Dalia's mother smiled, "Well let's get going then!"

"Me first!" Shouted Dalia, enthusiastically as she ran to the fire place and quickly grabbed a handful of the green Floo powder.

The fireplace glowed with tall green and silver flames that licked at the bricks around it due to her mother already throwing some Floo powder into it.

Stepping into the fireplace, Dalia felt the flames lick at her feet as she held her hand out and dropped the Floo powder into the flames and shouted, "Diagon Alley!"

With a whooshing sound that echoed around her and filled her ears, Dalia felt the usual sucking and stretching feeling that came with this way of travelling and landed with a thud inside the leaky cauldron. Quickly stepping out of the fireplace before getting hit by the next person, Dalia walked forward and looked around at who else was within the all too familiar location.

The Leaky Cauldron was a magical building that only those who knew of the wizarding world could see. It is a dark and shabby pub that both feeds and houses any passing witch or wizard. Walking further into the building, Dalia entered a large room with stone walls that are accompanied by a number of random portraits and landscapes, and creaky wooden floorboards. On Dalia's left is the bar that has a number of small, wooden stalls placed around the counter. Continuing into the room, she could see a number of different sized tables placed around the room and hidden in the corners, cast under the shadows. At the back of the room on the right, she found the usual handsome wooden staircase that lead up the first floor where there's the countless number of rooms that contained warm, comfortable beds, highly polished oak furniture and a crackling fire which is always burning in the grate.

Dalia remembered back to the time in her third year when she had stayed in the Leaky Cauldron for a number of days and was talking to the Landlord, Tom, about when the Leaky Cauldron was first built.

_***Flashback***_

"_Hey Tom, how's business?" Dalia said as she made her way to a stool by the bar after having just woken up and taken a shower. This was the last day of her stay at the Leaky Cauldron and no matter how much she loved it here, she couldn't wait for her mum to tell her that she could come back home after a terrible infestation of Bundimun. The foul stench of decay had finally left her clothes and she was now wishing she had been allowed to watch as the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures took care of the infestation._

"_Hullo Dalia! Yes, business is good, as always." Tom replied in his usual happy mood. "So it's your last day 'ere Dalia, what you going to be getting up to?" Tom asked whilst wiping some glasses before putting them under the counter. _

"_Oh, I'm not sure, Tom. Why don't you tell me some interesting stories about the Leaky Cauldron?" Dalia said with curiosity and interest evident in her tone. Her mother had told her all about the Leaky Cauldron but not enough to fulfil her curiosity about the place._

_Tom chuckled with his toothless grin at Dalia's tone. "Sure, how 'bout the beginning of the Leaky Cauldron… It's always a good place to begin!"_

"_Yes, the beginning…" Dalia said as she made herself comfortable and began to dig into her large breakfast. _

"_Ok well, it all began with a lovely lady named Daisy Dodderidge. Now, our story begins in the summer of 1500, when times were easier than they are now but problems still caused trouble. And I bet you know all about trouble, don't ye Dalia! Well, in 1500, the only way for people to get into Diagon Alley was if they apparated or used the Floo network into either Knockturn Alley or Gringotts. Now, not many people liked the idea of going into Knockturn Alley as I'm sure you know why… so that meant everyone went straight to Gringotts. This however did not make the Goblins happy due to the fact that they like to work in peace and if people are popping out of a fire place every couple of minutes then that's not exactly peaceful." Tom said with another toothless chuckle before continuing with the story. _

"_So there was the problem with the Goblins. And I'm sure as a third year, you would have learned of some of the Goblin rebellions in your History of Magic class." Tom asked Dalia. Dalia nodded quickly whilst blushing at the fact that she usually slept through her History of Magic classes due to the fact the Professor Binns was so boring. _

"_Back to what I was saying… the Goblins planned to rebel, which caused the ministry a lot of worry as then no one would be able to access Diagon Alley without having to go into one of the darkest of places. The Goblins continued to rebel and the ministry panicked. However, as time went on, yet another problem arose that also couldn't be fixed easily. As I'm sure you'll also know, Muggle-borns don't own a fireplace that is connected to the Floo Network and they also cannot apparate. Therefore, they were unable to get their school things. And this is where the lovely Daisy comes in. Daisy Dodderidge, a very accomplished woman that could make anything out of what you give her, was approached by the Minister himself and asked to think of a way to solve the problems. And that's exactly what she did. There we are, my girl! The Leaky Cauldron was created and solved both of the problems that had turned up at that time. The Leaky Cauldron was the way to connect the two worlds, or as Ms. Dodderidge said, 'The Leaky Cauldron serves as a gateway between the non-wizarding world and Diagon Alley'" Tom finished with a grin at the girl that had been listening so intently. _

"_Wow. But then how were muggle-borns before the 1500 getting their school things?" she asked as she was caught up in the history of it all. _

"_Well, they went with a member of the faculty from Hogwarts to get their things each time at the beginning of the year like they kind of do now, except they are only taken once now and that's when they are firstly introduced into our world. Back then the member of faculty had to continuously go back and forth each year through the fireplace in Gringotts" Tom answered as he continued to wipe glasses that kept appearing out of thin air. _

_Dalia ate the rest of her breakfast in silence as she thought about why Dumbledore didn't fire Binns and just get Tom to teach History of Magic. At least that way, she would have continued with it and not have given it up for another elective._

_***End of Flashback* **_

Shaking herself out of the daydream, Dalia turned to see Lily stepping out of the fireplace before being closely followed by her mother.

"Right, lets hurry along and we might just make it back home before dinner" Mrs. Edmonds said as she led the girls to the Courtyard.

The courtyard was a small open space surrounded by a brick wall and pavement. Barrels sat in the corner and if anyone other than a wizard or witch came out here, they would think it was just a normal courtyard. This was not true however. Like a young Daisy Dodderidge once said, the courtyard was the official entrance to the gateway between the two worlds. Mrs. Edmonds headed towards a blank piece of the brick wall that if you looked close enough, was a little chipped and began tapping on the wall with her wand whilst mumbling, "Three up... two across..."

As usual, the bricks that she had touched with the end of her wand began to wiggle and twist as they moved out of the way to form an archway that lead into the one and only, Diagon Alley.

* * *

The last week of the summer holidays flew by quickly and soon enough Dalia found herself being drenched in cold water by her best friend on the 1st of September. Jumping from her now wet bed, Dalia glared at her laughing red haired roommate and threw a pillow at her giggling form.

"You're gunna wish you never did that!" Dalia muttered as she watched Lily get up and grab a towel from her trunk whilst continuing to giggle every now and then.

"Sorry but you should have seen your face!" Lily giggled once more before heading into the bathroom that was connected to Dalia's bedroom.

A few minutes later, a clean and slightly wet Lily came out of the bathroom already dressed in her muggle clothing. Dalia went around her room picking up random objects from books to pieces of parchment and stuffing them in her trunk that was placed on the end of her bed. Waiting for the right moment, Dalia watched Lily as she finally turned around to face her trunk and quickly pointed her wand at Lily's back and muttered,

"_Aguamenti_"

A fountain of crystal clear water flew from the tip of her wand and onto the unsuspecting Lily.

"W-w- what-t-t th-the he-h-heck?" Lily spluttered as her teeth began to chatter and shivers raked up and down her now soaking wet body.

"Opps, I'm sorry! I think my wand might be malfunctioning. I'll need to get that looked at before someone is covered in freezing cold water again" Dalia choked out as she fell onto her bed due to her sides aching from laughing so much.

"Very funny Dalia! I only just showered!" Lily shouted angrily as she drew her wand and said a quick drying spell.

"Well, I guess you should stop wasting so much water by showering twice!" Dalia answered as she got up from her bed and continued to pack up her things whilst still keeping an eye on Lily in case she wanted revenge.

"Oh, ha ha! Now hurry, its 10 o'clock and the train leaves in an hour." Lily stated as she closed her trunk and began to drag in out of the room and down the stairs, leaving her best friend to pick up the last of her things.

"She's still packing, isn't she?" Dalia's mother asked as she saw Lily enter the parlour with her packed trunk.

"Yup" Lily answered as she sat in a chair and waited for her friend.

A few short minutes later, Dalia raced down the stairs with her trunk floating behind her.

"Ready!" She said as her trunk dropped to the ground behind her and she started to straighten the dress that she had chosen to wear for the journey to school.

"Okay, let me just shrink your trunks and then you both need to hold onto my arms" Mrs. Edmonds said as she began to shrink their trunks and put them into her pockets.

The two girls stood on either side of her and grabbed onto her arm tightly, waiting for the horrible feeling that comes with apparating.

All too soon, the feeling of being sucked through a small thin tube came and the three women vanished leaving a crack to echo in the air.

* * *

Steam bellowed in the distance as students gathered their belongings and hurried towards the large, scarlet train that was set to leave in a just a few minutes.

"Hurry up, Lily! We have to get on before it leaves without us. Then what is the school going to do without their teachers pet?" Dalia joked as she pushed her way through the onslaught of people.

"Oh shut up! I'm right behind you so just keep going" Lily huffed as she wiped her sweaty and pinked brow.

"Let's go near the back seeing as that's where the empty compartments are" Dalia said as she finally made it onto the bustling train and made her way down the corridor, poking her head into different compartments to see if any were free.

"Oh look, there's Char!" Lily called as she pushed forward and into the compartment where two of their friends were waiting for them.

"Hey Lily, Dalia, about time you two got here!" Charlotte Bennett, a slender girl with a mane of blonde hair and crystal blue eyes, said.

"Hey guys" Said the second girl named Marlene.

Marlene Anderson was a busty girl with straight, caramel blonde hair and had the tendency to flirt with any and every boy in sight.

"Hey! Sorry it took so long thanks to a certain red head that would not get out of bed this morning!" Dalia said with a fake exasperated tone and a shake of her head, sending her wavy, dark brown coils flying around her face.

"What! If I remember correctly, you were the one that had to be woken up with a splash!" Lily said indignantly.

"Well, if I remember correctly, you had a splash too this morning" Dalia shot back with a smirk stuck to her face.

"What are you talking about?" Charlotte or as she liked to be called, Char, said.

"Oh nothing, just that lily woke me up this morning by splashing cold water all over me so I returned the favour by giving her a shower" Dalia said as she retold the story of what happened this morning.

"Wow, who would have thought Lily Evans, the teacher's pet, would do such a thing!" said a shocked Marlene.

"Not you too! I am not a teacher's pet!" Lily huffed again as she crossed her arms and looked angrily out of the window at the last few students that hadn't gotten onto the train yet.

"Why aren't you like this normally? Things would be amazing with this new fun Lily rather than the holier-than-thou Lily that either always has her head stuck in a book or is arguing with a certain James Potter" Char grinned as she heard a soft groan come from the red head at the sound of the boy's name.

"Sorry guys, I can't help it if I bring out the fun and exciting beast in Lily!" Dalia joked as the compartment door slid open.

Beyond the door Dalia managed to see four people crowding in the door way of their compartment. The first to be seen was a tall and muscley boy with soft hazel eyes and a jungle of black messy hair that could only mean he was the James Potter that was mentioned only seconds before.

"Who brings out the beast in my Lily Flower? I hope you girls aren't arguing over me already!" smirked James as he ruffled his thick hair.

"No they were talking about me Prongs, weren't you girls" Said Sirius black, an even taller and strongly built boy with long brown-black hair that came to his chin and smoky grey eyes, winked.

"Eugh" muttered Dalia as she watched the same emotion of disgust cover her friends faces.

"James, Sirius, shut up and leave the girls alone" said another boy that stood with them.

"Shut up Moony, they love us being here" Sirius argued with a cheeky grin that girls would literally die for.

Moony A.K.A. Remus Lupin was a quiet and studious boy with short sandy hair and cloudy blue eyes. He also seemed to give off a dangerous persona due to amount of scaring that always seemed to show up on his body without any explanation.

"Hey boys, how was your summer?" Dalia said conversationally as she felt the tension coming off of her best friend, Lily, and the leader of the group, James Potter.

"It was great!" squeaked Peter Pettigrew, a small boy with dirty blonde hair and mousy features.

"Yeah it was good, and yours, Lia?" Remus spoke softly with a hint of a smile.

"Amazing! Lily here however, was stuck in the toilet most of the – whah!" Dalia began before a hand closed over her mouth, cutting off her sentence.

"Mine was good too, no problems at all. Unless you count Lia as a problem" Lily said with a fake smile to the boys.

The boys who had been sniggering at Dalia's comment began to make their way out of the Girl's compartment.

"See you later my Sweet Lily Flower!" James called as he waved sweetly towards a moody and bright red Lily.

"Lia, are you going to come by our compartment later, we have a surprise for you!" Sirius asked as he too began to follow the rest of his friends.

"Sure" she said as the door finally closed shut and had the rest of the girl staring at her

"What?" she asked, beginning to get uncomfortable with their stares.

"Why do you hang around with them? They are annoying –" Lily began.

"Insufferable gits –" Marlene continued.

"That prank people just for the fun of it" Char finished.

"They are much better when they are just relaxing and not showing off in order to get attention, and besides, they're my friends and you have to admit that they're pranks are funny" Dalia argued.

"Whatever, They are still annoying, bullying toe-rags" Lily sighed at her friends choice of friendship.

"Well, I'll see you guys in a few. I want to see my surprise!" Dalia stated with a mischievous grin on her face.

"See ya!" Char, Lily and Marlene called as Dalia open the door and walked down the corridor in search for the boy's compartment.

Finding the right one, she slid in and watched as all the boys apart from Remus, who was reading, played exploding snap!

"Hey boys! Where's my surprise?" Dalia asked causing all the boys to swivel round and look at her.

"Hey Lia, sit down and I'll get it out" James said as he got up from his seat and reached up into his trunk.

"Okay! So what prank are you planning to start this year off with?" Dalia asked.

"We haven't decided yet, we were waiting for your input actually" Sirius said.

"Oh, well I have a few tricks up my sleeve!" Dalia smirked

"What's that?"

"Well –"

"Here it is!" James interrupted as he brought down a small container.

"What is it?" she asked as she watching him open the contained and pull out a sticky substance

"I don't know. I saw it in a muggle shop and the owner said it's great for pranks. He called it putty or something like that" James said in a confused tone

"Merlin's great saggy pants! Look at that stuff!" Dalia gasped.

Dalia reached out her hand and grabbed the putty. It felt strange and gooey in her hand and not matter how much she stretched the gooey, green substance, it wouldn't break.

"You know, this would go great in a prank if we could make more of it!" Dalia stated as she continued to play with the putty with a look of awe on her face.

"You're right!" Sirius said as he waved them all into a huddle to discuss their latest prank.

* * *

The sky had grown dark by the time the train had pulled into Hogsmeade station. All the students scrambled off the train as their excitement grew larger and the thoughts of delicious food came into their minds. The usual magnified voice told the students to leave their luggage on the train for it to be picked up later. Then it came to the hard part of trying to get through the sea of people on the platform without ending up in a pile of broken pieces under the train.

"Come on, let's go grab a carriage" Remus said as he began to lead the way through the crowds and towards a dirt road where horseless carriages sat in waiting.

"Are you hungry for the feast?" Peter squeaked excitingly as he followed the others.

"Yeah, it's going to be great!" Sirius said as his belly rumbled.

"Yeah, and I can't wait to see the slimy Slytherins faces as they wait for our latest prank" James chuckled whilst everyone hummed and nodded in agreement.

The carriage they settled in took off as soon as the door closed and led them up a dirt road towards the most beautiful scenery you would ever see. As they drew closer to the castle, they all stared in awe at the magical building that had shortly and quite easily became their home.

Shortly, the horseless carriage pulled up outside the steps leading up to the entrance to Hogwarts. They all exited the carriage and walked with the crowd into the Great Hall. As usual, the great hall was decorated for the beginning of term feast with large banners that feature the different houses above each of the separate house table with a last banner with the Hogwarts Crest just behind the staff table. Hundreds of candles float in the air above the heads of all the students and the different house ghosts entered the hall and sat at their house tables. Apart from Peeves who just felt like whizzing around. It looked magnificent like always and the students couldn't help but be breath-taken at the image.

Taking a seat at the Gryffindor table, the four marauders and Dalia smiled at each other before putting their attention to the front of the hall where a small wooden stall sat in front of the staff table.

The hall quited down as walked in Professor McGonagall leading the first years in a line towards the stall before stopping in a group as she walked through another door and returned with a worn out hat which she sat on the stool. Everyone in the hall turned their attention the hat and waited for it to burst into song. This year's song wasn't as happy as last years and spoke of a sadness that will fill a lot of people's lives.

After that, Professor McGonagall took out a scroll and began to call out the first years one by one to put on the hat and be sorted into the four different houses. Whenever someone was put into Gryffindor, the marauders would cheer extra loud and Dalia watched as Lily gave encouraging smiles to the new 'family members' whilst also throwing glares to the overzealous marauders.

Dumbledore stood up from his seat and walked up the golden podium that had a monument of the most beautiful phoenix ever seen with its wings spread out wide. Stretching out his own arms in a welcoming gesture Dumbledore began to speak, "To our newcomers – Welcome! To our old hands – Welcome back! Now there is a time for speeches and this is not it! But before you all delve into this wonderful feast, I would like to say a few words. And these are: Doozy! Gardyloo! Brouhaha! Pettifogger! And now tuck in!" Dumbledore returned to his seat and glanced at the gryffindor table with an extra twinkle in his eye before beginning to eat.

"What the heck was that supposed to mean? I think he's finally lost it!" Sirius said as he began inhaling his food.

"I don't know. I think he was giving everyone a warning" Dalia chuckled as she began to also eat.

"What do you mean?" Peter squeaked as he took food from a tray opposite him whilst his eyes stayed trained on Dalia.

"Well the words he used are old English in a way. The first word was Doozy which I believe means something really great" Dalia said without noticing that other people around her were listening to their conversation.

"And the others?" Sirius urged Dalia, wanting to know more about what the 'old bat' was talking about.

"Well, Gardyloo is a warning people would shout before someone would through water from above you. Which I'm sure, we both should have shouted this morning by the way Lily." Dalia said as she shot a smile and a chuckle to her friend that had also been listening to their conversation before continuing on. "Brouhaha means…" Dalia trailed off whilst she tried to remember what it meant.

"It means an uproar" Remus put in.

"Yeah that's it, an uproar and finally," Dalia added another chuckle before starting again. "Finally, A Pettifogger is a person who tries to befuddle others with a speech"

"So what does that mean all together?" Peter asked, not understanding the full picture.

"It means that he thinks this year will be the best as we cause uproars with the latest pranks that we have in mind and that if we are using water which I believe we are, then we should give fair warning. Then altogether, everything I just said is because Dumbledore is trying to confuse everyone because he thinks it's funny" James pointed out for Dalia as he chuckled into his goblet.

"So he's basically lost it. Good thing you read sometimes, eyy Dalia. But how do you know this, James?" Sirius asked whilst everyone who had been listening looked up and watched James who suddenly became uncomfortable.

James shifted in his seat due to the amount of eyes on him. "My mum and dad thought it would be a good idea to know this stuff. And in the end I guess it is seeing as it helped dissect Dumbledore's speech" James said with a full out grin erupting on his face before finishing his dinner and waiting for the dessert to come.

Everyone turned back to their own food and contemplated what James and Dalia had said about Dumbledore's speech.

Shortly after everyone had their desert, Dumbledore got back onto his feet and made his way back to the podium with a smile on his wrinkled face. Before starting, he gave a little nod towards them that James, Dalia and Remus only seemed to notice before starting his speech again.

"The very best of evenings to you all! Now that you are all fed and watered I would like to make a few announcements. First off, let me introduce you all the newest member of our staff, Ms Carol Shudbeck who will be taking over the Defence Against the Dark Arts post." A round of cheering and clapping filled the hall as they welcomed the new professor.

Once the clapping died down, Dumbledore continued. "Professor Luderson will not be returning due to the fact that he is still missing and no one has been able to find the Cornish pixies that had kidnapped him last year." A few chuckles went around the hall as everyone pictured Cornish pixies trying to pick up a fully grown man and taking him away.

"Secondly, Mr. Filch the caretaker has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden within the castle has this year been extended to include Biting Teacups and Frogspawn. The full list comprises some three hundred and twenty nine items, which I believe, can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody will like to check it. As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is still out-of-bounds to students and of course, some student will do good to remember that." Dumbledore's eyes glanced over to the marauders and Dalia who high-fived, causing different people to giggle and chuckle under their breaths.

At the staff table, Dalia could feel professor McGonagall's piercing gaze on them as she tried to not laugh at the fact that she's on edge for their next big prank. Dalia could feel the number of gazes that keep on roaming over to the group as the students waited in anticipation.

Seemingly unaware of the antsy students, Dumbledore continued speaking to hall, "The village of Hogsmeade is also out-of-bounds to all below third year. And finally, before I relieve you all to the comforts of your dorm rooms, I'm afraid it is my duty to warn you that past this castle, dark times are coming" The students seemed to gasp at his suddenly unhappy words, "In these dark times I wish you all to stay safe and hopefully we will not be in them for long. Now pip pip! You should all get a good night's rest for classes tomorrow!" Dumbledore finished.

The noise of everyone getting up and quickly leaving the hall in relief of not being caught in a prank filled the hall.

"Did you see their faces as they waited for us to do something" giggled Dalia as she made her way out the hall with the marauders following.

"I still don't get why we didn't. We always pull a welcome back prank during his speech!" Sirius moaned as he walked up the stairs.

"That's why. Everyone was expecting it! Now just you wait until they wake up the next morning and see what happens at breakfast" Dalia whispered with a cheeky and gloating smile on her face.

"It should be great! How did you get the house elves to agree to this anyway?" Remus inquired.

"It was actually pretty easy. All you really had to do was butter them up with a 'Oh, I really wish someone would help me with this' or a 'I'll be in so much trouble if people didn't drink this as then everyone could get ill from their food' and voila! They would easily help you solve your problem" Dalia giggled.

"You sneaky girl!" Sirius grinned

Dalia gave him an answering grin before entering the Gryffindor common rooms and telling them a small good night before heading up to bed.

_Tomorrow sure will start off with a bang!_ They all thought as they instantly fell to sleep.

* * *

**Any good? Please Review and keep my spirit us so that I do end up writing the next chapters! :D Thanks for reading!**


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